The Erris Head Loop walk, just a tiny bit longer...
Before you start:
Don't do anything rash or put yourself in dangerous situations just to find that geocache
Read the paragraph "the walk" before doing this walk, take a look at the attributes
Always keep a safe distance from the edge of the cliffs!
Make sure that you have good waterproof shoes. The trail can be wet.
You need to go over rocks on your way to the cache, make sure that you are fit enough for it.
Do not attempt this walk when it's stormy
Please do not leave food inside the Geocache! Since it's a remote location the food can go bad before someone else is able to find the Geocache what would cause a bad mess inside!
- Park at the parking lot that is mentioned in the waypoints.
- Take the normal loop walk and enjoy the nature and the scenic view
- When you stay on the path you will pass a small concrete building, some meters further down the walk, you can see the giant ÉIRE 62 sign with stones on the ground.
- When you reach a giant bay, you are right. If you want, you can walk up the hill to get to a point where you can see all 4 lighthouses around Erris Head, as long as the weather is good enough.
- Walk down to the head end of the bay and follow the path around it. Keep a distance from the edge!!
- Maybe you can see seals lying on the rocks in the bay. Be quiet and watch to see if you spot one. A good place to view them is when you follow the path around the bay, until you get to the side of it. You will have a better view on the head of the bay. You need to stay there for some minutes and hoping that a seal, if there are some, is moving.
- Follow the path, till you get to an area with many stones. LOOK AT THE GROUND, DO NOT FALL! THERE ARE BLOWHOLES!
Here is a giant blow hole. When you look out, it shouldn't be dangerous. If you want, you can throw a stone inside and hear how far it goes.
- Now you can go to the cache location. Have fun!
- To get back, you need to get back to the normal loop walk. Just follow the same way back that you came from.
A bit history and geology...
ÉIRE 62:
Éire 62, a giant sign on the ground, written with stones that originally were painted white to make them clearer - the GPS of the past. During the Second World War, 80 of these signs were placed at the coastline around Ireland.
The Éire signs were erected around the Irish coastline from the summer of 1943 onwards, a period when overflights of Irisch territory and forced landings of belligerent aircraft (manly Allied) had increased dramatically. In keeping with the De Valera goverment's policy of discreetly co-operating with the Allies, Allied air crews who landed in Ireland were assumed to be "non-operational", and therefore were not detained (a fact that the Germans noted with displeasure). It made more sense to all concerned, however, if such forced landings could be avoided and so the Éire signs were erected to ensure that pilots knew that they were flying over Irisch territory.
Every Éire sign has a number, which told the pilots where they were in Ireland.
Éire 1 was on the coastline near Dublin.
[source: Royal Irish Academy, Eiremarkings.org.]
Blowholes (geology):
Huge or tiny openings in the ground, often very very deep.
A blowhole or marine geyser is formed as sea caves grow landwards and upwards into vertical shafts and expose themselves towards the surface, which can result in hydraulic compression of sea water that is released through a port from the top of the blowhole. But as long as its not stormy, the water won't come out.
[source: Wikipedia]